February 20, 1947 - March 1, 2006

Time flies eh

The King is gone, but not forgotten

Nice tribute.

Great tribute from the team by their 4-0 win today as well.

I could see Ossie getting a hatful against a team like that lot today .. after all this time that "and Southampton" still rankles ... ah well.

Born is the king of Stamford Bridge

Peter Osgood - 1947 - 2006 RIP

http://cfcuk.net/story.php?id=100733

Peter Osgood

By: The Reserve

Date: 01 March 2008

Today is the second anniversary of the sad and premature death of Peter Osgood – the King of Stamford Bridge. Peter died on March 1st 2006 while attending a family funeral, leaving all who knew and loved him shocked and saddened. Peter Osgood was for many of a certain age, THE definitive Chelsea footballer.

Born on February 20th 1947 in Windsor, Peter made his Chelsea debut in 1964 against Workington Town in the League Cup on December 16th and scored twice.

Although only a teenager, Peter was selected for Alf Ramsay’s 1966 England World Cup 40 but failed to make the final 22 that were selected for the tournament.

In October 1966, Peter suffered a broken leg while playing for Chelsea against Blackpool in the League Cup. The injury put his career back with the player talking longer than usual to recover.

Peter missed Chelsea defeat in the 1967 FA Cup against Sp*rs but, in 1970 under Dave Sexton, Peter scored in every round of the FA Cup including his famous diving header at Old Trafford against Leeds in the replayed Final.

Scoring that goal meant he had notched in every Round of the FA Cup that season, becoming the last player to achieve the feat.

The Following year, he scored in the European Cup Winners Cup Final against Real Madrid to help Chelsea win the trophy. In 1972, Peter scored his only goal at Wembley as Chelsea were beaten 2-1 by Stoke City in the League Cup Final.

While respected by all in football for his natural talent and feared by opposition defenders, Peter was only selected to play for England four times, making two appearances in the 1970 World Cup before winning his last cap against Italy at Wembley in 1973.

With Chelsea in financial crisis and manager Dave Sexton losing the confidence of both the players and the Board, Peter was sold to Southampton in 1974, a move that caused supporter protests at Stamford Bridge.

He won an FA Cup winners medal after the Second Division beat Manchester Utd 1-0 in the Wembley Final. In 1997, he had a loan spell at Norwich City before joining the North American soccer league and playing for Philadelphia Fury.

He returned to Chelsea in 1979 and scored on his first start back in Chelsea colours in the 7-2 defeat at Middlesbrough before retiring from football in 1979.

Like many others, Peter did not get on with former Chelsea owner Ken Bates who, after initially getting on well with the player, then decided to ban him from Stamford Bridge.

However, after the sale of Chelsea by Bates to Roman Abramovich, the new regime welcomed Peter back and, like many other former Chelsea stars, he then became a match-day host and was involved in many club inspired events.

We here at cfcuk.net were fortunate to be included amongst the friends of The King and it was through us that Chelsea authors Martin Knight and Martin King met Peter and arranged to write his biography entitled, “Ossie – King Of Stamford Bridge”.

We will always fondly remember the chaotic scenes at the cfcuk fanzine stall when Peter made a personal appearance at a book signing that was organised by the then Matthew Harding’s Blue And White Army.

We miss you Peter and will never forget you. Thanks for all you did for Chelsea and for helping to turn 1000s of young boys – as I was at the time – into life-long Chelsea supporters.

Out from the Shed, Come a rising young star,

Scoring goals past P*t J*nnings from near and from far.

And Chelsea won, as we all knew they would,

And the star of that great team was Peter Osgood,

Osgood, Osgood, Osgood, Osgood.

Born is the King of Stamford Bridge!

And where is the statue, they can pay hundreds of thousands in wages to players that sit in the stands week in week out, but a few thousand for a statue of the king.

We don't want a plaque, we don't want a bust we want a life size statue made of gold

or maybe bronze

I still can't believe that the presentation was of a one foot tall plaque, and not an actual statue. Surely that is something we could fit in somewhere, or even outside the ground?